ISLAMABAD: The Lahore High Court has ordered the Pakistani federal government to stop issuing licences for genetically-modified (GM) varieties of cotton or corn until a legal framework is put into place to assess the new types of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that are fast cropping up every day.
The decision effectively halts and prohibits the supply and sale of fresh GM seeds in Pakistan including pest-resistant strains of Bt cotton and Bt corn.
These varieties are genetically altered to be more resistant to certain types of pests and diseases.
The restraining order will affect previously-approved varieties of GM seeds.
It will also affect 23 varieties of Bt cotton and 14 new varieties of Bt corn approved in March 2014.
However, these GM corn varieties include strains MIR162 and MON810, both of which have been banned by China and the European Union. Official said yesterday the court issued the order when a public interest petition was filed by the Kisan Board Pakistan, a farmers’ rights network.
The petition specifically challenged the 12th meeting of the National Bio-Safety Committee (NBC) held on March 12, 2014.
In that meeting, NBC had considered applications for the commercialisation of 23 new varieties of Bt cotton as well as 14 applications for new varieties of GM corn.
The Farmers Association of Pakistan has been complaining about the sale of poor quality Bt cotton seeds in the open market for quite some time.
But even as Pakistan heads towards the commercialisation of GM crops, there is still no strong regulatory system in place, no trained technical staff or any well-equipped laboratories that can properly analyse GM crop strains.
Internews
